Copiers, laser printers, ink jet printers and other imprinting mechanisms today incorporate an ability to store and supply sheets of paper from a stack stored within their covers. As such, the sheet stack is invisible to the user. Normally, the only indication the user receives of a paper-out status is a signal when the paper supply has actually been exhausted. In many cases, that signal issues during a printing or copying job and requires that the job be interrupted to re-supply the paper stack. It is preferable that such a signal be given at a time that enables the user to interrupt the copying or print job at a convenient point, replenish the stack and continue the job.
Some prior art sheet status indicators display the sheet supply status by means of an indicator in or behind a slot in the wall of a cassette that supports the sheets. This type of indicator is continually visible to the operator and is often ignored due to its continuous visibility.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved sheet supply status indicator for an imprinting mechanism.
It is another object of this invention to provide a sheet supply status indicator that provides a visible indication when a sheet supply falls to a predetermined level.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a sheet supply status indicator that provides an ability to indicate an incipient supply exhaustion at any desired level of remaining sheets.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a sheet supply status indicator that is of simple construction and does not effect the operation of a sheet cassette tray with which it is associated even when it is inadvertently moved by a user.